Copyright by Ahmad Aminpour 2010 The Thesis Committee for Ahmad Aminpour certifies that this is the approved version of the following thesis: An Overview of The Flower of Shoran: A Kurdish Novel by ‘Atā Nahāyi Approved by Supervising Committee: M.R. Ghanoonparvar Michael C. Hillmann An Overview of The Flower of Shoran: A Kurdish Novel by ‘Atā Nahāyi by Ahmad Aminpour, B.A. Thesis Presented to the faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Texas at Austin in Partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts The University of Texas at Austin August 2010 Acknowledgments I want to express my sincere thanks to M.R. Ghanoonparvar who has never wavered in supporting me to pursue my academic interests. Without his intellectual support, this study would not have been possible. I would also like to extend my gratitude to Michael C. Hillmann; our classroom discussions and his methods of close reading have opened a new perspective to me in my academic studies. I am truly grateful to my dear wife, Nastaran Kherad who has always been a source of inspiration and always encouraged me to explore more. I would also like to offer my thanks to Gregory M. Bruce who proof read the translation part of this thesis. iv Preface The Flower of Shoran (Gūl-ī Shorān), written by „Atā Nahāyi was published in 1998 in Iran. It consists of eight chapters. This novel could be called a historical novel which spans the period between the two World Wars and a decade after the fall of the Republic of Mahabad in 1946. The Flower of Shoran has received some attention in literary circles in Iran, Iraqi Kurdistan, and Kurdish Diaspora in Europe. One of the predominant themes in Kurdish contemporary literature is Kurdish nationalism. Subsequently, I have chosen to discuss and translate parts of The Flower of Shoran which I believe, is one of the few literary works that has well captured the struggle of Iranian Kurds for recognition as a nation with a distinct language and identity. The novel shows how the political and historical upheavals emerging between the two World Wars affected the development of Kurdish nationalism and consequently the lives of the Iranian Kurds. I have translated two chapters of The Flower of Shoran to illustrate the linguistic and literary qualities of the work and how the theme of nationalism has been worked into it. Regarding the methodology of translation, I have tried to keep the integrity and flow of the story in English, although I have used the original Kurdish honorific titles and gender prefixes as used in Kurdish where I was not able to find a suitable equivalent in English. Moreover, I have intended to keep the local color of the work by a literal v rendering of the similes and certain idioms and phrases. I have also transliterated Kurdish names phonetically and have added letters when needed to direct the reader towards the correct pronunciation. At some points, I have provided extra descriptions to clarify some culture-specific traditions or to specify the category of things. For instance, I have added „a type of Kurdish clothing‟ after a transliterated piece of clothing. vi Abstract An Overview of The Flower of Shoran: A Kurdish Novel by ‘Atā Nahāyi Ahmad Aminpour, M.A. The University of Texas at Austin, 2010 Supervisor: M. R. Ghanoonparvar This thesis seeks to examine the Kurdish novel, The Flower of Shoran (1998) by Iranian Kurdish author, „Atā Nahāyi in the context of Kurdish identity search and nationalism and struggle to build a nation state. Considering that the setting of the novel is between the two World Wars which is arguably the most critical phase of Kurdish nationalism, the present study tries to give a brief overview of the historical events that shaped and oriented Kurdish nationalism. Subsequently, Nahāyi‟s perspective on the question of Kurdish identity and nationalism in Iran which are the underlying themes of the novel is discussed. vii Also a detailed summary has been provided along with the translation of the first two chapters of the novel to illustrate how a fairly successful Kurdish novel such as The Flower of Shoran has dealt with the Kurdish question of identity and nationalism in the context of Kurds' struggle for autonomy and recognition as a distinct nation. viii Table of Contents Chapter 1 A historical overview of Kurdish Nationalism in Iran 1 Chapter 2 Overview of Kurdish Literature and The Flower of Shoran 9 Chapter 3 Plot summary 20 Chapter 4 The Flower of Shoran (Chapters 1-2) 35 Bibliography 100 Vita 102 ix Chapter 1 A Historical Overview of Kurdish Nationalism in Iran “The Kurds, among the most colorful and distinctive of Iranian tribal people, present a major problem for nationalism,” asserts Richard Cottam, the author of Nationalism in Iran (1964) in the beginning of his discussion of Kurdish nationalism (65). On one hand, he notes that the Kurds in Iran imagine a long and proud history for themselves, believing to have descended from the Medes, a Kurdish dynasty. A fact or a legend, it has resulted in a “cohesion” Cottam identifies as a distinctive unifying feature that has helped Iranian Kurds advance Kurdish nationalism. On the other hand, however, Cottam argues, there are two historical obstacles tampering with the development of Kurdish nationalism in Iran. First, the Kurds have never succeeded in forming “a stable state of their own” since ancient times. Second, throughout history the Kurds have been very closely associated with Iran and Iranian culture. In fact, the richness of Persian literature and culture vis-à-vis the “meager” Kurdish culture and the existence of opportunity for Kurds to attend Iranian universities, Cottam maintains, have to a large extent absorbed and assimilated the Kurds into Iranian culture. More contemporary historians such as Farideh Koohi-Kamali have argued similarly, tracing the origin of Iranian Kurds‟ demand for autonomy rather than for independence in the common cultural heritage that connects the two nations (171-2). 1 The recent history of the Kurds and their nationalist movements in Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and Syria where the Kurds form a sizable minority shows that the Kurds, though assimilated on their own or provided for to be assimilated into the dominant cultures of the four nation-states, have continued to challenge the varying policies these states have adopted to deal with their Kurdish populations. According to Michael Gunter, the editor of The Evolution of Kurdish Nationalism, there are two ways to look at the origins of the nation and nationalism (1). The first one is the primordial or essentialist approach which favors the argument that notions and consciousness of nations as monolithic entities have been there since ancient times. In order to substantiate that Kurdish nation is a primordial phenomenon, the adherents of this school of thought often tend to invoke examples from such books as the Iranian epic, Shāhnāmeh (10th CE ), Sharaf Khān Bitlīsī‟s Sharafnāma (1597), a history of Kurdish emirates, and especially Ahmad-i Khānī‟s (1650-1707) 17th century epic poem, Mem u Zin (Mam and Zin), where there are explicit references to Kurds as a distinct nation, who are different from Arabs, Persians, and Turks. Constructivists, on the other hand, Gunter explains, believe that nationalism is a phenomenon of the modern world which helped the process of nation-building. Arguing that the emergence of nation-states is a new phenomenon even in Europe, he asserts, it would be absurd to insist that cultural and political nationalism date back to a distant point in time (7). In fact, as Nader Entessar notes, “politicization of Kurdish ethnicity coincided with the formation of modern nation-state in the Middle East” (1). Previously, 2 since the formation of the Safavid Dynasty in Iran and the emergence of its rivalry with the Ottomans, the Kurdish tribes living on the frontiers, Koohi-Kamali reports, “switched loyalty from one state to another” or were used as mercenaries in the power struggle between the two empires (68). The presence of the foreign powers also determined where the allegiance of the Kurdish tribes stood. Before the fall of the Ottoman Empire, which provided the opportunity for the emergence of different nation-states in the region, there was one major Kurdish excursion in 1880 led by the Kurdish chieftain Sheikh Obeydollah from Turkish Kurdistan into Iranian Kurdistan. Obeydollah proclaimed himself the king of Kurds near Lake Van in today‟s Turkey and announced his motivation behind the excursion to be an effort to unite all the Kurdish tribes under the Ottoman suzerainty. “Obeydollah,” Cottam argues, “was defeated, but his actions served to spread a consciousness of being Kurdish to more of his people” (66). Other movements in other parts of Kurdistan took place prior to and after Obeydollah‟s revolt but they shall not be discussed here because the present study intends to focus on the development of Kurdish nationalism in Iran and its reflection in modern Kurdish literature, and The Flower of Shoran in particular. Before World War I, the social arrangement of Kurdistan of Iran was mostly tribal. The nomadic Kurds, unaware of nationalist thoughts and ideas followed the order of their khan and were usually unhappy with the Iranian central government‟s unfair treatment and heavy taxations. The percentage of urban and nontribal population was 3 very low. Koohi-Kamali describes the relationship between the tribesmen and nontribal Kurds at that time: “as one of domination and exploitation of the latter by the former, economically by looting from them and collecting dues from them to provide tribesmen (particularly the military men of the chief) with goods and money, socially and politically by imposing the social/political structure of the tribe on the nontribal population” (71).